Number 31.
Sir,

The Isis arriving here with the Swift the 7th Instant, I have received the Orders from the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty of the 18th of March last, regarding the Destination of the Camel and Bute; and your several Letters of the 19th, 20th and 22d of that Month.

I received the same Day from Sir peter Parker, the Particulars re­ specting the Escape of the Ships armed by the Rebels at Boston, as contained in the paper of Intelligence, which with the Commodore's Letter and my Answer, is sent enclosed.²

The Commodore not mentioning any other Circumstances in his Letter relative to that Matter, besides the Day the Armed Ships sailed from Boston, and the time the Diamond returned to Rhode-Island, I am not able to form any satisfactory Opinion of the Course and probable Destination of those Ships. My present Instructions to the Commodore have therefore been confined entirely to the farther Security of the Transports sent to receive the Forage collected in the Bay of Fundy.

The Attendance of the Ships of War which might otherwise be spared from occasional Service within the Limits of this Port, being necessary to co-operate in the expected Movements of the Army, I am not able, at this Crisis, to make any Detachment from the Number, to proceed in pursuit of the Enemy, which under other Circumstances would be proper. The Return transmitted with my Letter of the 5th, will shew the Appointments made for the Guard of the port of Boston when the Enemy put to Sea.

Captain [Christopher] Mason arrived here also on the 7th Instant in the Dispatch; with the Springfield and two more Transports, part of the Convoy that sailed from England under the Charge of Captain [Richard] Onslow. As the Separation happened when they were not more than one h[undred] and fifty Leagues from this port, the Arrival of [the] Saint Albans with the rest of the Transports may be daily expected.

The Camel will proceed immediately for Antigua: Captain Finch being charged with the Packet that was to be conveyed by that Opportunity to Vice Admiral Young; Together with the Dispatch of which the Copy is hereunto annexed. The same Information will be communicated to Vice Admiral Gayton by the Bute, as soon as the most necessary Repairs stated in the Account of that Ship's Defects enclosed with my former Letter, can be completed.

I am with great Consideration; Sir [&c.]